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and its microscopic laser went to work creating muscle and skin until the wound was no more. Man, he was exhausted. And hungry. Now that he wasn’t feeling sick to his stomach. The sequence and tests had taken longer than expected, and they’d missed lunch.
    “It’s time to eat,” Kelly muttered, turning to leave when Mars caught his wrist. He sat up, his amber eyes filled with pain.
    “You’re angry with me.”
    Kelly let out a heavy sigh. He wasn’t. Not really. “No, not you. The people who most likely want to use you. I think you’ve been lied to. We’ve all been lied to. It’s not your fault. You just do as you’re told. You don’t know any better.”
    Mars stood, his hand still wrapped around Kelly’s wrist. “Will you show me?”
    “Show you? What—”
    Before he could finish his sentence, Mars stepped close to him, his hand going to Kelly’s cheek.
    “Show me how to be a good man. Like you. I want to be good.”
    Kelly’s heart squeezed. “You are good, Mars. It’s your purpose I’m worried about, and I don’t know how to change that. Even if I did…. They could hurt me. Do you understand that?”
    The gold in Mars’s amber eyes darkened, and the lights in the room flashed. What the hell was that?
    “I wouldn’t let them.”
    This was getting him nowhere. How could he expect Mars to understand? It was far too complicated for even Kelly to wrap his head around. What he needed was for Jordan to find whatever it was he was trying to find and get back here so they could figure out their next move.
    “Listen. Let’s forget about everything that’s happened and start over. How about we have some dinner and then watch a movie?”
    Mars looked like he wanted to argue but nodded silently instead. They grabbed a couple of extra T-shirts before heading into the kitchen.
    Deciding he needed a little distraction, Kelly tapped into the kitchen’s interface and brought up one of his favorite music stations that played lots of vintage music from the 1950s. He tapped his foot and bobbed his head as he selected ingredients from the FoodCube’s scrolling grocery list.
    “How about bacon, mushroom, and chicken pasta with a creamy garlic ricotta sauce?”
    He smiled at Mars, who nodded. The poor guy looked so lost.
    “You’ve listened to music before, right?”
    Again a nod and not much else. Okay. Kelly gathered all the ingredients he needed and placed them on the nanoglass counter beside the sink. It had been a while since he’d cooked. It was easier to just grab some takeout on the way home than cook for one. As Kelly began to chop up his veggies, he noticed Mars lost in thought. He looked… sad.
    A thought struck Kelly, and he wiped his hands on a paper towel before returning to the kitchen’s interface. After finding exactly what he was after, he tapped the screen when Debbie Reynolds’s lyrical voice filled the kitchen. Gene Kelly’s and Donald O’Conner’s voices soon joined in singing “Good Morning.” Mars’s head shot up, his eyes wide. A slow smile spread across his face as Kelly began to sing along. He clearly wasn’t made for the stage, but Kelly did his best. When the song was over and “Singin’ in the Rain” came on, he grabbed a mushroom and danced around the kitchen, holding the mushroom like an umbrella, making Mars laugh.
    Kelly sang and held his hand out to Mars, who took it with a smile. They danced around the kitchen, Mars laughing at Kelly’s atrocious attempt at tap dancing. It was awful. Mars helped Kelly cook, and they talked during dinner, with Mars telling Kelly about all his favorite musicals and old Hollywood actors. His amber eyes glowed radiantly when he spoke. It hurt Kelly’s heart to think they could turn this vibrant, passionate man into a cold-blooded killer.
    After dinner Mars helped Kelly clean up. They went to their rooms to shower and get in their pajamas to watch movies, though Kelly found Mars more captivating than the screen. It amazed Kelly